i went to the doc ,my knee has been hurting for a few days ,,she thinks its my acl gota go for mri....just how bad is this and is surgery always the answer. i can get around with a brace on with minimual pain ,,seems my chaseing the dogs thru the brias might be over for a bit ,,have to stick to the trails and walk slow or just be a tailgate sitter which i aint . judgeing maybe done for a while ,,dont know how long ,,

I have done mine twice once when i was younger during football i had a slight tear but it didnt completely seperate no surgery was needed it hurt like heck but i recovered then last year i jumped off the back of the plane at the base and did the same thing to the other but this time needed surgery. I got extremely lucky depending on the injury most of the time it will be surgery. You hopefully just strained it and the pain will go away and you will be able to get better without surgery. All in all if the doc says stay off it stay off it as hard as it may be your only gonna injure it more by staying on it.

Like preacher said, if it isn't a complete tear you can rehab it it and not need surgery. While standing, try to flex your quad (thigh) muscle. If you have a tear this muscle will not tighten up. it is a defense mechanism that your body does when the knee is injured. If it will tighten you just have a sprain. if not then it is tore, just a question of how bad.

I tore mine a few years back and I had to have surgery it sucks. They took my entire acl out and replaced it with a cadaver. I never did any rehab and it is just now starting to feel like it is healed. The one way you can tell if you tore it is if you heard a loud pop sound when you did it. You can live with it but your knee will give out from time to time. It just feels like it is going to hyper extend all the time. I would take it easy for awhile.

if felt like my knee totally seperated when it happened but didnt hear a pop. i trid the flex knee thing ,, i can do it but its sore . after they prayed for me last night its better today i wore a brace all day but its only hurt me few times ....hasnt reallty felt like it wanted to pop out today ,but it popped some ...thx for the help guys .. hopefully some rest and some more prayer all will be fine!

Glad your ACL did not completely tear Rick! I have a coworker that completely tore his playing basketball. He said you would not believe how loud the "snap" was! I hope the MRI brings good news and that you can avoid surgery and make a full recovery! Stay off those roofs until the doctor says it is okay! I will remember you in my prayers until you recover!

If you need the surgery, get it. Don't go around the rest of your life in pain and having to watch were you step or what you do. They normally replace it with a cadaver ACL, your own ligament from another part of you knee (usully the knee cap tendon is split and used) or from a Pig or animal. Your ACL keeps the bottom leg your tibia from moving outward of the top portion your femur. When it is torn or even a tear in it, your knee no longer has the stability it normally has. Some times when the ACL tears, the Meniscus and the MCL tears also or becomes sprained. The best possible outcome from the MRI is that it is just a sprain and I hope thats all you have. Good luck to you, will say a prayer.....DH